Heaven is a place on earth
by The Tremulous Raptor
Summary: A strange girl falls from the skies onto the Thousand Sunny with no memory of herself. Is there anyone looking for her? Will she discover who she really is? And how will the Strawhats welcome her? "Are you an angel?" "yes." Begins before the Thriller Bark arc, rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

_I'm cold._

This was the thought that stood at the forefront of my mind as I kept sinking down, endlessly down.

I felt heavy, tired, scared, desperate and… so terribly, terribly _cold. _As all fight left my body, I unconsciously reached out my hand upwards, towards the light, the surface… my life. I blearily made out a silhouette drawing closer but I was too tired to await the owner. My vision went blurry and then slowly faded away with the rest of my consciousness.

* * *

…

"_Do you want to live?"_

"_Please help me!"_

"_Then shall we make a contract?"_

"_I'll do anything!"_

"_Kyurururu! Then we have a deal."_

…

* * *

One of my most hated nightmares are the kind where you feel like you are falling from a high place, and the only thing awaiting you is the cold, hard ground.

I was having one of those nightmares, except when I should have woken up as I hit the ground, I didn't and actually crashed into the surface. Face planting it, more like.

"Motherfucker…" I muttered as I sat up, surprisingly unhurt given the circumstances, yet still in pain. I stretched my back and heard a rather unattractive 'crack' sound. Oh yeah, definitely in pain.

I was sitting in a pile of crushed wood, most likely crushed under my weight from the fall. I looked up to see from what place I had fallen but paled at the sight that greeted me.

In a full-circle around me stood a group of scary looking people, all with their own version of apprehensive, guarded expressions. Except for one guy who's eyes seemed to sparkle and whose jaw had literally fallen to the floor. Was that healthy? I wouldn't have thought so, but then again, I was no doctor.

"Are you an angel?!" I gave the boy a bewildered look before looking around at the sound of groans from the other people and observed their facepalms. Was this normal behavior for that boy? Must be tiring then.

"Yes." Came my reply, because really, what did he expect me to say? It seemed to have been the right answer though because the tense atmosphere almost completely dissipated, weapons –wait, weapons?- were sheathed and put away and the group's posture became more relaxed.

"COOL!" The boy's reply was this time joined by a… a… fluffy little bear cub who stood on his hind legs and was positively the most adorable thing I had seen in my entire life. And he was wearing a pink top hat. I felt light headed and I wasn't sure whether it was because of the fall or from a cuteness-overload.

"If you're really an angel, then where are your wings?" I looked to my left to see a young man with green, cropped hair and a mean looking expression. A non-believer, huh? I'd show him.

"Because I'm a _fallen_ angel, duh." I cast him a 'are you stupid?' look for good measures. "I obviously wouldn't have fallen if I still had my wings."

I had no idea why I was so stuck on backing up the idea of me being an angel. I was pretty sure I wasn't one, but when I began to think about it, I wasn't sure about who I was at all. What was my name? Where was my home? My family? The more I thought about it, the more my head hurt and I was starting to feel a little anxious. _Who am I?_ I couldn't remember.

"If you're an angel, then tell me what heaven is like." Glancing behind me, I noticed a young girl with pumpkin colored hair and with a stuck up expression and posture. It was pretty clear that she didn't buy my story. Well that would only be fun, then. To see which one of us lasted longer.

"That's classified information, sister, I can't tell you that if I ever want to have a chance of returning." I noticed with concealed glee that the girl narrowed her eyes at my answer. Angel: 1- Jack-o-lantern: 0.

"I have a question for you, little girl." Standing in between the green haired guy and the pumpkin princess was a slightly younger looking man with big, black curls on his head and the longest nose I had ever seen. "Why did you lose your wings and fall?"

This was the toughest question yet, but… "It was God's desperate attempt at curing my potty mouth."

Silence consumed the place for a few seconds before various exclamations filled it,

"COOL!"

"She is a SUPER ANGEL!"

"Is she your distant relative, Usopp?"

I tuned all of that out in favor of locating the owner of the soft chuckle that rung out pleasantly behind all the noise. I found my target behind me, standing beside the pumpkin haired girl, with an elegant hand covering her mouth and eyes squeezed shut in glee. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen; with ivory black hair, delicate frame and a mysterious yet attractive aura around her.

She must have found out I was staring at her because she soon let her hand fall back to her side, offered me a kind smile and then looked to her right where a man with blond hair and a cigarette in his mouth stood, "Why don't we give her some food, Sanji-san? She looks hungry."

I was pretty sure the reason I was drooling was because of her beauty and not because I was starving, but I wouldn't really say no to free food. I loved free stuff, I realized.

The man in question grinned cheekily at the suggestion "What a splendid idea, Robin-chan!" He then turned to me and reached out a hand, bowing like a gentleman as he did so, "Come with me, little lady, I'll make you a more delicious meal than any you could ever find in Heaven."

I stared at him for a while, deciding that I quite liked him, before reaching out my hand. "Those are big words, mister." I replied as he pulled me up with much ease, resulting in cracking sounds from the wood beneath me and dust filling the air around the debris.

I only then looked down to observe my attire, having no idea what my clothes looked like. I had to hand it to myself, I had style. I was wearing a denim skirt with suspenders, a white short-sleeved dress shirt, red stockings, blue rain boots with white shoelaces and a red ribbon around my neck. The downside to my outfit was that it was rather dirty for some reason- and so was I, although I was equally as muddy as I was littered in scratches and bruises. Which was weird because it didn't hurt. For the sake of experimentation, I poked a pretty, purple spot on my left arm, only to hiss like a cat at the pain that blossomed at the contact. Yeah okay, maybe it hurt a little bit.

I dusted myself off with as much elegance as I could muster before following behind the blond man who I believed was a cook, or at the very least the one in charge of cooking. As soon as I took my first step, however, I heard a very loud '_squish'_ sound coming from under my feet which made me stop. I stepped out of one of my boots, picked it up and flopped it over, observing with fascination as the water that had probably filled half of my boot splashed onto the surface below my feet. Then I put my boot back on, repeated the action with the other boot and then continued after the cook who had stopped to observe my motions, his cigarette dangling out from the small gape on his mouth.

I heard the wonderfully melodious chuckle coming from behind me once again, and knew that the beautiful woman had found my actions entertaining. Another great win for me that day.

I realized soon after I continued following the blond man that I was on a rather large ship. A curious thing, which I had not noticed before, was that the ground below me, despite being made of wood, was also covered in a thin layer of grass. The _really_ weird thing, however, was that the grass seemed to be real, judging by the fact that it smelled absolutely fantastic. There was also a slide leading from the second deck to the first, and a swing attached to a lone tree near a staircase. My guess was that this was an amusement ship of some sorts, but it would be weird if that was the case, because then the residents would be good with children, and that didn't really seem like the case, judging by my welcome party earlier. It hadn't been welcoming in the slightest.

But then again, I did essentially fall from the skies and onto their ship, damaging it and then lying my ass off about my identity, so they pretty much had an excuse not to be trusting of me or nice for that matter. Yet they still were rather nice to me, offering me food, not cutting me up with their sharp-looking weapons and chuckling at my antics. My first impression of them was ultimately a rather good one.

The kitchen was very spacious and had a very warm, home-like feeling to it. "You can just sit down at the table, little lady, I'll bring you something warm to eat in no time." I did as the cook told me and took a seat that was the closest to the door and with my back facing the wall behind me. This way I could sit comfortably while watching the cook do his magic.

I had just sat down when the energetic boy from before barged into the room, a huge grin on his face and eyes locked on me. "Hey, angel, join my crew!"

I stared at him for a while before opening my mouth to answer, but the green haired man who came after the boy was faster, "Oi, Luffy! Don't just invite whoever to join us!"

While they argued on this topic, I began to wonder what kind of a crew he was talking about. A sailor crew? An amusement crew? Then again, when I though of a crew sailing the seas, the first thing I thought of was…

"Are you pirates?"

The two young men stopped arguing in favor of looking at me. The energetic boy, the same grin stretching his face to abnormal proportions back in place, quickly broke the silence. "Yeah! Wanna join?"

"Sure." My answer this time was a quick one, coming before anyone could interrupt. My situation was a clear one: I had no memory- not of myself, my family, my home- nothing. I had no idea where I was or how to look after myself and it was clear as day that I needed help. I couldn't afford to be picky about my comrades and besides, they all seemed like a rather nice bunch. I could have ended up on a much worse pirate ship than this.

I noticed the green haired man giving the other boy a 'we'll talk about this later' look, and noted that while the boy seemed to have the authority on the ship, everyone present did not yet accept me. Maybe no one did, except the energetic boy, but that didn't really bother me much, especially not if he was the captain.

I was brought out of my musings when a plate was placed in front of me, filled with something completely unknown to me yet looking like the most delicious thing I had ever seen. The smell was not to be belittled either, instantly making my mouth water and my fingers twitching to grab the fork and start stuffing my face. And that was exactly what I did.

The man hadn't been joking when he said he'd make a dish more delicious than any in heaven. Not that I had any memory of having ever visited heaven or tasted their food for that matter, but I had no doubt this was on par with what could be found in the holy place.

"Hey, Sanji, make me some of that too!"

So the cook's name was Sanji. It hadn't really registered before when the beautiful lady had addressed him but I would make sure to never again forget the name of the holy cook. Saint Sanji. The name was carved in my heart.

"You've already had dinner, idiot." I guessed the cook wasn't polite to just everyone. But that was okay as long as he treated me kindly.

I finished my food on record time, licked the plate clean and placed it back on the table just in time to see the rest of the crew filing into the room. Not all of them sat at the dining table, some of them preferring the island in front of the holy ground (the kitchen) and some sitting behind me where a couch was.

The orange haired girl stopped in front of me and looked at me past her nose, "You're in my seat." She didn't really beat around the bush, did she? Well, I wouldn't really mind another battle with her.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you name on it."

"My mistake, I'll make sure to write it. In your blood."

Woah, she was one tough cookie. I was starting to like her in a hateful kind of way. "Careful princess, keep frowning like that and you'll look old before you reach puberty."

She gaped at me for a couple of seconds before her face contorted into one of absolute fury. My eyes widened when I noticed a thundercloud appearing above her head and I wasn't sure if it was real or just my mind playing tricks on me. It seemed rather real, though.

"Why, you…" She took a step closer to me and before I knew it, I found a pair of knuckles pressed onto the sides of my head and suddenly, without warning, she started twisting them into my head with excruciating force and speed that it brought tears to the crook of my eyes. I yelped, cried out and wailed for her to stop but she didn't listen.

"I don't want to hear that from someone who shouldn't even know what 'puberty' is, you stupid brat!"

I must have really struck a nerve with that one. "I give, I give! I'm sorry, princess! Forgive me!" A second passed and then the pressure stopped and I immediately patted the sides of my head to see if she had rubbed me bald. With a sigh of relief, I sagged back into my seat. My hair would live to see another day.

Angel: 1 – Gorilla Woman: 1. I had the feeling our war would be a long one.

"Sanji, would you make me some tea? I need something calming." I watched the pumpkin princess carefully as she cicrcled the table and sat on the other side, a few seats away from me. To her right was the pirate captain, then an empy seat, and then the green haired fellow.

"Anything for you, Nami-swan~" Was Sanji's reply before he did some kind of a ballet twist on the floor and then started doing his magic on the holy ground.

"Hey, hey, angel, my name is Luffy and I'm going to become the pirate king! This guy here-" He pointed towards the green haired man, "-is Zoro. He's our swordsman. And the scary girl over here," He was thwacked on the back of his head before he could finish that introduction, "is Nami and she's our navigator." He then continued to introduce everyone on the ship. Sanji, Robin, Usopp, Chopper, Franky; cook, archeologist, sniper, doctor and shipwright. I wasn't sure I would be able to remember all of those names right away, but I would do my best.

"What's your name?"

The question squeezed all air out of me. I should have expected it, but I still wasn't ready. I had no idea what my name was but knew that I should probably have one. I realized my silence had gone on for a few seconds too long and therefore made up my mind, gave the boy a sharp AYI (Are You an Idiot) look before answering, "We don't have names in Heaven, but rather go by numbers."

Luffy looked rather confused at that answer but then asked, "Then what's your number?"

"8846." I was being quick to think here, but most of what I said- if not all of it- was bullshit. I quickly realized after my answer that I didn't want to be called '8846' for an unknown long time. "… But I realize that the custom is different in this place and therefore you can help me find a new name for the time being…"

The captain lit up like a firework, immediately opening his mouth to reply, "Then, let's call you-"

"-Brat."

I stared at Luffy for a while before moving my gaze towards the pumpkin princess who had answered for him and narrowed my eyes. "Veto."

"Then how about Angel?" Came Luffy's answer and I thought about it for a while before answering with a "No." Before quickly brewing up an excuse for my denial, "that would give away my identity. You see, if the wrong people knew I was an angel, they might want to capture me and make experiments on me." I shuddered to show the captain that that would not be a pleasant experience. The real reason, however, was obviously that being called 'Angel' would be embarrassing to no ends. I wouldn't ever be able to respond to that name with a straight face.

The sweet smell of tea filled the dining room and I suddenly felt myself become drowsy. I crossed my arms on the table in front of me and rested my head on them, "It would be good if my name was short and easy to remember without giving away my true identity…" I muttered and began to think about it on my own.

It wasn't long before I drifted off into dreamland.

* * *

"Hmmm… Then how about… umm…" Luffy had been coming up with names left and right for the last ten minutes but none of his suggestions had been answered so he figured none of them were good enough. He had never realized before how hard it was to find a name for someone who could voice their opinion on it. His name had just always been Luffy so he had never thought more about it but now he was starting to wonder what he would like to be called if he didn't have a name already…

"Luffy, you do realize that the brat fell asleep a while ago, right?"

"Ehh?!" His head snapped towards the little redheaded girl and sure enough, she was fast asleep, drool trickling down her chin from her gaping mouth. He sagged in his seat with a hopeless sigh, "But there were so many things I wanted to ask her, like if she pooped and-" He was thwacked on the back of his head again by Nami who yelled at him to not ask people about such things.

"Hey, Luffy, are you really going to let her join the crew?"

Luffy looked at Usopp who was sitting on the couch next to Chopper. The two of them had been completely silent ever since they came into the dining room, safe for the occasional quiet conversations between the two.

"Yeah, she's already our nakama."

"You realize that the girl must have come from somewhere, right, Luffy?"

The young captain looked at his navigator, confusion written all over his face, "Yeah, she came from heaven, she already told us."

"That was obviously a lie! We've already been to the skies- the only thing there are sky islands, there's no heaven."

Before Luffy could answer, Usopp came to back him up, "Well it's true we've been to the skies, but there's no knowing if heaven really does exist. That's not to say I believe the kid, but we can't be sure that heaven's not a real place."

"She was really lying?!" Luffy finally asked in shock, not wanting to believe it. His only answer was silence all around. He stared at the table in front of him for a while, a frown on his face as he concentrated. He then looked at the girl and furrowed his brows, showing his face of stubbornness. Until the girl told him herself that she was lying, he would believe her.

"Heaven or not aside," Nami broke the silence once again; "It will be dangerous for the girl to stay with us. I will acknowledge your decision in making her a crewmember-temporarily, but we should make it our goal to find out where she comes from and if she had any relatives or companions."

Luffy opened his mouth to argue but was this time interrupted by Robin, "I believe Nami-san is right. It is very dangerous for a little girl who does not know how to take care of herself to travel with a pirate crew. Nevertheless, we should take great care of protecting her since she has already joined, until we find out where she belongs."

"But what if she doesn't have a place to go and she's really telling the truth? And we can just teach her how to fight and-"

"SHE IS NOT A PET!"

The air in the room chilled considerably and Luffy looked in shock at his sniper, not having expected that outburst. Usopp in turn was fuming, his face looking as scary as it did back in Water 7 when they had their fight. "She is a human girl that could seriously get hurt or killed if she stays with us for too long. Are you going to take the responsibility for that, Luffy?"

The young captain was speechless, but soon realized that what his crew was saying was true. It was dangerous for the angel to stay with them. He went back to staring at the table in front of him, the rest of crew also becoming deep in thought.

The silence dragged on for a minute or two until Nami heaved a long sigh before pushing herself out of her chair, "I'm calling it a day, I'm exhausted." She then walked towards the sleeping girl in Nami's usual seat, stopped in front of her, grabbed a hold on the back of her shirt and picked her up like a kitten, holding her at some distance away from herself like she was something dirty. Well, to be fair, the girl kind of was looking rather messy, even on Luffy's standards.

"Franky, the first watch is yours. Good night."

Her only reply was "SUPER!" from their shipwright and Robin and Sanji bidding her a good night before she walked out of the room, the strange girl dangling in her grip, her chin on her chest and mouth still wide open as she kept sleeping like a rock.

Once Nami made into the woman's quarters, she stopped for a while to figure out where to put the little girl, quickly deciding to put her on one of the lounge chairs. She then disappeared again to fetch a spare pillow and blanket.

Once the navigator was sure the girl wouldn't die from the cold during the night, she got herself ready for bed, blew out the flare in the lanterns and laid down in her bed. She quickly fell asleep, dreaming sweet dreams of strangling her captain for being an idiotic blockhead and stamping on annoying little, red haired angels in dirty clothes.

* * *

**A/N: Constructive criticism would be much appreciated! It's free to give and hey, who doesn't love free stuff?**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Demon be gone! Go back to whence you came and stay put! I will not let you drag me with you to hell!" My protests were completely ignored as I was dragged across the deck, nails scraping against the wood and legs kicking in a futile attempt to escape.

As we passed a curious looking Luffy, I saw a chance and called out to him, "Luffy! My captain, my knight! Save me! I'm too young to die!" I watched with growing hope as Luffy's expression became brighter and he took a step towards me, but a heavy feeling soon replaced the hopefulness as my captain glanced at my captor, visibly paled, sweated profusely and then turned the other way, acting as if Franky had called him. The jerk.

Irritated, I looked behind me where the pumpkin haired navigator was dragging me towards the stairs to the third deck, tried to kick her once more but failed as she was holding my feet rather firmly under her arm "Oi! Princess! I already told you, I don't want to take a bath!"

It may have seemed childish to make such a big deal of such a simple matter, yet simple or not, I did not want to take a bath. I didn't care if I had spent an hour running around the ship with the she-demon on the chase or if I really did smell bad and looked filthy. I didn't care if I had left scratch marks in the ship's surface, starting from the grass on the first deck to the base of the third deck's stairs and I most certainly did not care about my scratched and bruised face from the last set of stairs I had been dragged up. That bath was not going to be taken.

Despite my stubborn thoughts, Nami still managed to blackmail Usopp into carrying me up the stairs in the library, me cussing him to the underworld the whole way and him apologizing fervently with tears in the crook of his eyes. He got none of my pity, the bastard.

It had already been three days since I had fallen from the skies and I was quickly getting used to my new crewmates and their personalities. Nami and I had kept our war going since day one, but I had lost count of our score after it was 14-16 in her favor. Too many times we scored a tie or were interrupted mid-battle so it was difficult to keep track on the numbers.

I still worshipped Sanji as the saint that fed me the food from the heavens, and I had come to like his personality as well. It was entertaining to watch his change in manners around the girls and the boys and he was one of the few crewmates that actually treated me with respect.

Robin was still a woman wrapped in mystery, while also still the most beautiful woman I had laid eyes on. I hadn't gotten much time to interact with her much, except for that one time when I was fussing over my hair that kept getting in my way and she offered to fix it for me. Ever since then, my hair had been styled into low-hanging pigtails and I considered the hairstyle a gift from the beautiful archeologist.

Usopp was a funny guy. I had realized rather quickly that he was a complete coward and the master in telling bullshit yet entertaining tales. He was also very crafty with a knack for art and an incredible sharpshooter. I guess that's why he was the sniper. He and Luffy were the ones I hanged the most around, feeling the most at ease around the two of them. I had this theory that they were easier to interact with because of their childish nature. Birds of a feather, right?

Talking about Luffy, he was an incredibly entertaining fellow. It was hard to believe that such a childish, energetic kid was the captain of the crew, but there was some kind of a gravitational pull around him that was hard to explain, he just kind of pulled people into his pace. I loved how welcome he made me feel and I looked up to him like an older brother, even though sometimes he felt more like a little brother.

Franky was… confusing. I had no idea how to act around him, but he seemed like a pretty cool guy. He just happened to be a cyborg that walked around in speedo briefs, an open summer shirt and had a big, pimpy golden necklace around his neck. He looked like a pervert if you asked me, but I knew for a fact that he was a nice guy because only on my second day on the ship, he built me a really cool bunk bed and fit it into the women's quarters. I loved it.

I had barely talked to Zoro at all. He seemed to take naps on the first deck many times a day, reminding me of a cat. He also trained vigorously, the only crewmember that seemed to do so and I kind of admired his determination. Watching him, however, had me thinking that I had no idea how to defend myself if we actually did get into trouble. I couldn't count on the crew to save my ass every time I got into a tight situation.

That left the adorable, furry little doctor. He had told me in a rather aggressive manner that he was a reindeer and not a bear cub and I made a mental note to never get it wrong again. It seemed like a touchy subject for him. He was still an incredibly adorable little thing and amazingly gullible which made for a fun target practice when I felt like telling stories. Usopp now had competition.

I had still not told the crew the truth about my identity, or the lack of it, for that matter. After having lied so much, I found it rather embarrassing to suddenly go 'oh, hey, remember when I told you I was an angel? Yeah, that was bullshit, sorry, I actually have no idea who I am.' It would also sound incredibly suspicious, so I kept that little detail all to myself.

Finally, Usopp managed to climb up the stairs with me struggling on his shoulder, dropped me off on the floor in the bathroom and then made himself scarce. I tried to follow him but the evil witch of a navigator was too fast, grabbing the neckline of my shirt, almost crushing my windpipe in the process. She then unceremoniously stripped me of my clothes and threw my in the already filled tub of hot water.

Furious that I had lost yet another battle with the gorilla woman, I tried to give her a fright by lying motionless in the tub, my face towards the bottom and ass up, as I floated on the waves.

My plan seemed to have worked somewhat because very soon I heard the navigator shriek: "DON'T FAKE DROWNING!" I stayed in the same position for a few seconds before heading for the surface of the water, taking in a huge breath of air. I then glared at the pumpkin haired woman, who disdainfully glared back. A few seconds and a "brat" comment later, the navigator moved towards the exit, "there's soap to your right, use it to clean yourself and be finished when I come back." And with that she was out of sight.

But most certainly not out of mind. _"Be finished when I come back," _I mimicked in a mocking tone with an appropriate grimace on my face. I then reached for the yellow soap and began to scrub my body clean- not because I wanted to obey the ogre, but because I did not want to stay in the bath much longer. I didn't know why I didn't like the bath, it was warm and large and would probably be perceived as cozy by most, yet there was something about it that made my stomach twist uncomfortably.

I watched as the grime floated away from me as I scrubbed myself, soon realizing that the point was probably to wash yourself off before going into the bath, if the showerhead, bucket and stool in the corner of the room was anything to go by, but Nami probably hadn't any patience left for me to make me wash myself before entering the bath. Clever little pest.

Five minutes later, I was out of the bath, a lavender blue towel wrapped around my body, and standing in front of the mirror with the help of a stool I had taken from the bath and for the first time seeing my own appearance. It was rather strange that three days had passed and yet I had never thought of finding out what I looked like.

My hair was of a strange color, I thought, a red-purplish kind of color. It reminded me of plums, a thought which immediately had me cackling at my reflection, because if Nami was a 'pumpkin' and I was a 'plum', we would make a rather funny combination. "Kekeke," I was still cackling when the navigator's head appeared from the floor where the stairs were located and it immediately made me burst out in laughter, hugging my tummy and holding onto the sink for support as I laughed away.

The navigator looked at me funnily, then put something on the floor next to her before disappearing again, deciding not to bother with my antics this time.

A few moments passed before I managed to control myself, then growing curious about whatever the navigator had left for me. I found out it was actually an oversized dress shirt. Well, oversized for my small body at the very least, but looking at the tag on the neckline, it actually said 'S', so it must have been a small size for an adult. The shirt was long sleeved and light blue in color, most likely Sanji's property.

After realizing that my clothes had been stolen from me, I figured that this shirt was supposed to be a substitution and so I put it on, clumsily fiddling with the buttons, finding it frustratingly difficult to close them up in the right order. A few moments later, I was dressed, finding that the shirt reached below my knees and the sleeves almost reached the floor. I couldn't figure out how to roll them up on my own so I let them be and slid into my boots that thankfully had not been abducted.

After that was done, I moved towards the stairs and made my way towards the kitchen. I had missed lunch because of this whole fiasco.

* * *

Finally, the paper I had dipped into ink was now dry and I could continue my procject. The piece of paper was rather hard and dry now after the ink-treatment, but that was okay.

I grabbed the small knife Usopp had given me the previous day- said that it could come in handy especially since I don't know how to fight- and then began carving lines into the paper.

A few seconds later, the pumpkin haired navigator walked past me where I was sitting on the foremast, looked over my shoulder and for a couple of seconds, there was only silence. Then,

"Why is my name carved into that paper?"

"Oh, this?" I pointed at my paper nonchalantly, "This is my blacklist. Congratulations, you're on the top of it."

I looked up to observe the thunder cloud that was once again appearing above the pumpkin princess. "You… Wasted my precious paper… for something so stupid?"

I gulped. Why was she suddenly holding her fully-constructed bo-staff?

The answer hit me just as the witch's lighting did, and both hit me hard. I coughed, grabbed my paper and ran away, "Luffy! Help me! Someone! Child abuse!"

Before I knew it, we were back to the game of tag, but this time, being 'tagged' meant something far more painful than simply taking a bath. Even so, what hurt the most were not the strikes of lightning, believe it or not, but rather the psychological blow of being told I now owed the navigator a sum of a million bellies.

* * *

"Please stand up against this wall." I did as the furry doctor told me and walked towards the wall. The doctor took a stool to stand on as he measured my height, then moved towards his notebook on his desk with a "that's fine," before scribbling something or another in his book.

My clothes had been washed, and I was relieved to be wearing them again. So far they were the only property on the ship that belonged only to me and for that reason it was incredibly precious to me.

So far, Chopper had asked me a bunch of questions like 'are you hurting anywhere,' 'do you feel sick in some way,' and so on, as well as a few question on my mental health. I had told him honestly that I did not know how old I was, although I may have added that my soul was over 600 years old.

He had then done a few tests on me, measuring my weight, balance, height and physical responses to stimulation, light and sounds. A good hour later, Chopper told me that he was done. Full examination completed. "If you would like to know, I would guess your body is around the age of eight years old," He commented and I stored the information away.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise, I had always known that I was a young kid somehow, and my inspections in the mirror that morning had further backed up my theory, but hearing my physical age was still rather stunning. I knew that most eight years old weren't supposed to have the same thought process as me. They weren't supposed to be this cunning, distrustful or have such a 'potty mouth'. That brought on the question of why I was so different.

The rest of the crew must have also realized that I didn't behave like an average eight year old would, and coupled with my lying tendencies, didn't that make me super suspicious? Did they find me untrustworthy? And why did I care?

Before I knew it, I had gotten way too attached to the crew even though I knew that some of them were still trying to figure me out. Heck, all of them probably still were, but that didn't change the fact that I felt so at home when with these people. Deep inside I really cared about what they thought of me.

I thanked the doctor with a halfhearted grin before I made my way to the door. I had a schedule to uphold and hopefully, the next thing on my agenda would help clear my mind a little bit.

As an apology for betraying me earlier that morning, Usopp was going to teach me how to fish, so I eagerly looked for him while I ran towards the slide.

Unfortunately, I was so busy trying to look for the sniper that I accidentally bumped my toe into the side of the slide and fell face first to the first deck from the second.

"Fucking crapbucket of a slide…" I muttered angrily.

"Oh, kiddo, just in time!" I looked up to see Usopp holding a handmade fishing rod in one hand and a bucket in the other. "Uh… you alright there?"

I picked myself off the ground, wiped my bloody nose into the sleeve of my shirt and flashed him a grin, "Never better."

I then heard my captain's peculiar laughter who had appeared next to the long nosed sniper and narrowed my eyes at him for laughing at me. He didn't seem to notice and just continued to grin at me. I then realized that I had something important to tell him and in an instant, my hostile expression disappeared, replaced by an excited one,

"That's right, Luffy, I've found a name for myself!" I declared proudly.

"Eh, really? What is it?!" He seemed to be even more excited than I was. Then again, it was most likely his default emotion.

"From now on, my name will be Plum."

I placed my hands on my hips and looked proudly up at my new crewmates, eyes closed and waiting for their responses. I wasn't disappointed by Luffy's, he gave out an excited sound which I preferred over Usopp's question of why I had chosen that name.

The reason why was rather simple, actually. It was the color of my hair. It was short, easy to remember and while it wasn't the coolest name around- I mean, hello, I named myself after a fruit- it was still rather cute once you got used to the idea.

When the name had sunk in for the both of them, we decided to start catching some fish. I began by observing Usopp and Luffy but soon got Usopp to teach me like he had promised. I soon found out that I had no skill for fishing whatsoever. My hook got caught everywhere before I actually managed to throw it at the water, my string kept getting cut and I soon got blisters on my hands from handling the wooden stick with too much force.

Once I finally realized that fishing was not for me, I sulked for a little while before I realized that just being with my captain and his long nosed friend was entertainment enough for me. I soon lost myself in the fun and excitement of catching new fish, putting them in the fish tank and then running towards the aquarium bar to observe the fish we had caught.

After some time, I spotted a triangular fin peeking out of the water and immediately alerted my two buddies of what I suspected to be a shark. Luffy predictably became very excited and immediately set out to catch it with his net.

Once captured and put into the fish tank, the three of us ran towards the aquarium bar like all the other times to observe our catch. With great disappointment we realized that the damned shark had eaten all of the other fish and we agreed that the shark should be eaten by us as a compensation.

Just as we were deciding with Sanji how the shark should be served, a loud call from the loudspeaker interrupted us, Zoro' voice echoing through the whole ship, "Hey! Something's floating in the water!"

It only took a few seconds for every crew member to make it to the deck to inspect whatever Zoro had found. It turned out to be a barrel with the word 'Treasure' written on it, floating in the sea. I became rather excited, having never seen real treasure in my life before, that I knew of anyway, but of course Nami crushed my dreams by saying it was most likely alcohol or reserves.

Nevertheless, we hauled the barrel onto the ship and decided whether to open the barrel or not. The majority wanted to open it, Zoro being the loudest arguer in that category because he wanted to drink the alcohol he was sure was in it. Usopp, however, strongly opposed to the idea of opening the barrel, saying that it was cursed.

"Kekeke," I laughed at the cowardly sniper. Personally I had lost interest in the barrel as soon as it was said to be highly unlikely to contain treasure inside. I was still mildly curious, however, to see if it really was just alcohol like the majority believed or something else, and if so, what exactly that something was.

It was decided rather quickly that the barrel should be opened and Luffy was quick to do so. However, as soon as the lid was lifted, a bright red flare shot out of the barrel, reaching high up into the sky before exploding.

Everything seemed to come to a stop as everyone silently, apprehensively thought what that flare could have been. "What?! What's going on?!" Nami was the one to break the silence as she came running down the stairs to join the rest of us, stopping next to me. Her hair was still wet from having taken a bath and I would never admit it out loud but she smelled _really_ good.

"The alcohol flew up, lit up, then disappeared." Chopper explained helpfully, although I found it to be rather far off the mark. Zoro joked about it being the curse of the sea gods but Robin was the one to voice my own doubts, "Perhaps… someone may now be targeting this ship."

That seemed to stun everyone into silence for a while before Nami, Usopp and Chopper began to panic, the latter two running around the deck, looking for an enemy presence of any sort. I couldn't help looking around myself, but I didn't move from my spot next to Luffy, not wanting to cause any trouble for the crew by being in the way or make myself a target if we were being targeted in the first place.

I never thought the time would come so quickly that I had to rely in the crewmembers to keep me alive. Yet, even though I knew I would have to rely on them at least somewhat, I was not fond of the idea. I would try to fight on my own for as long as I could, if only to save a little of my pride. I at the very least had this knife to defend myself with if necessary.

We weren't given much time to worry about enemy attack as Nami suddenly picked up on something or another, suddenly shouting out, "Everyone to your post! We're fleeing South-South East! A raging storm is on the way in five minutes!"

And just like that, every crewmember was on the run, immediately knowing where to be and what to do. Well, except for me of course. I had no idea how Nami had known that a storm was on its way but everyone else seemed to trust her instinct so I had no reason not to.

Just as the pumpkin princess had predicted, five minutes later we were wrapped in a heavy storm, the rain poured down on us like water thrown out of a bucket, the waves jumped up and down as if it were a rollercoaster and the raging wind hit me like a wall.

It wasn't long before I could no longer keep my footing and flew away. For a few seconds I thought that this would be it, I would die in the turbulent water because the wind blew me away, but before I hit the water, someone caught the back of my shirt, leaving me dangling mere inches from the dark, rough seawater.

"Nice catch, Zoro!" I heard Luffy call and with a glance behind me I saw the stoic face of the green haired swordsman. "Thanks" I said with a shaky grin, just then noticing that I was trembling. Whether it was from the cold or fear, I didn't know. Zoro simply nodded before dragging me back to the safe side of the railing, then tucked me under his arm before he ran to the other side of the ship to help the others prepare it after Nami's orders.

Although it was a little embarrassing to be held in such a manner, I didn't mind quite as much as I normally would have. I felt safe with Zoro and that was what I cared the most about at that moment.

It wasn't long before I noticed that Chopper had changed into his 'heavy point' and Luffy was stretching his limbs to unnatural proportions. That sight would never get old.

It was during day two on the ship that I first saw Luffy's rubber powers and after the shock had mostly faded away (I was sure my eyeballs were going to pop out of their sockets), Usopp took it upon himself to explain the existence of devil fruits as well as their pros and cons. The crew found it odd that I didn't even know what a devil fruit was, but I managed to stutter out that we had no such things in Heaven, after all, everyone was able to fly so what more could we possibly want?

Furthermore, I was told that despite devil fruits being rather rare, there were three people in the crew who had devil fruit powers; Luffy, Chopper and Robin.

A few minutes passed before we managed to sail out of the storm with the help of one of the ship's amazing features, the 'soldier dock system,' but we didn't feel much safer as we soon realized we were surrounded by a very thick fog. Suddenly I didn't mind so much that I was being held like a sack of potatoes as long as Zoro kept me safe.

"Florian Triangle," My thoughts were interrupted by that ominous sounding name and I perked up to listen to Franky who continued his explanation, "The strange sea where almost everything disappears, shrouded in mystery."

Well that certainly did not sound good. The most terrified person on the ship, however, was predictably Usopp who immediately began asking his crewmembers if there were monsters around. As I watched them interact I soon realized that they were all trying to scare Usopp even more, a game which I would gladly participate in.

Silently, I crawled up the swordsman's torso before settling myself on his shoulders, finding it peculiar that the green haired man had no comment on my actions and let me do as I liked, but I was grateful nevertheless. That made things easier.

"-What's more," Sanji was the next in line to scare the sniper, "ghost ships carrying corpses wander these waters, or so they say…"

I snickered silently, opened my mouth tell the now petrified sniper that most of those corpses are completely faceless, but was interrupted by an eerie laughter coming from behind us.

"Yohohoho…"

Looking behind us, we saw a huge ship- five times bigger than the sunny- but the most frightening thing was that standing on the ship's helm was a tall skeleton with a huge afro.

"GHOST SHIIIIP!" We all yelled simultaneously, whereas the skeleton's only answer was the words of a song,

"Going to deliver… Bink's… sake…"

Terrified, I gripped the swordsman's hair- althought here wasn't much to grab, what with his short-cropped hair. My teeth were clattering in my mouth and my limbs were trembling, yet I said nothing. Zoro would keep me safe from the talking skeleton.

…Right?

* * *

**A/N: So I got myself together and drew a picture for the story. I wouldn't say I'm crap artist but more like half-assed. At least it gives you an idea of what the main character looks like, right?  
**

**Plum's name! How do you guys feel about it? Oh, and did you feel this chapter was too rushed?**

**Reviews would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much for reading!**


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